Supreme Court upholds counting of late-arriving mail ballots, rejecting GOP challenge
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that states may count mail ballots received after Election Day if they are postmarked by Election Day, rejecting a Republican-led lawsuit that sought to limit such practices.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a 5-4 ruling that allows states to count mail ballots arriving after Election Day, provided they were postmarked by Election Day. The decision rejected a lawsuit brought by Republican officials challenging the rules in more than half of the states and the District of Columbia that permit such late receipts.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices. Barrett noted that federal law does not prescribe a single deadline for receipt of ballots and suggested that any change to the rule would require congressional action.
The case stemmed from a Mississippi law that allowed ballots arriving within five business days after the election to be counted if postmarked by Election Day. A federal appeals court had previously struck down that law.
Election officials expressed relief at the ruling, citing the administrative challenges that would have arisen had the court sided with the Republican National Committee. Stephen Richer, a former top election administrator in Maricopa County, Arizona, said the decision avoids a “whole host of administrative challenges” for states.
President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly asserted that the 2020 election was fraudulent, called the decision a loss and renewed his push for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which has cleared the House but not the Senate.
“There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING!” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
The ruling leaves the existing state deadlines in place ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
